About Me

Buford C. Terrell
Controlled substances laws and their consequences have been the center of my professional life for over fifteen years. I host a public interest television program in Houston, “Drugs, Crime, and Politics” , produced by the Drug Policy forum of Texas, and have done so for most of its ten-year history. Before my retirement, I taught a seminar, “Controlled Substances Law” for many years at South Texas College of Law.
In this blog I intend to explore the features and consequences of those laws, especially the unintended consequences, and look at the need for, and possibility of, changing them. Don’t expect a lot of breaking news or current events, although there will be some. My approach will be more historical and theoretical. I hope to get a lot of criticism – good, bad, and otherwise – and to start some good, heated discussions.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Keep It Simple, Stupid

Keep
It Simple, Stupid

Spring
is the busiest time of the legislative year with almost every state in session,
and this year is busy looking at marijuana.At least eight states are looking at medical marijuana bills and almost
as many face decriminalization or legalization laws.

What
all of these various laws have in common, and in common with most of those
already enacted, is that they are detailed and complex.Most of them try to anticipate and prevent
any future problems that have been conceived.A sponsor of one pending medical marijuana law even bragged that his
bill was comprehensive; it was thirty-four pages long!

I
want to make a suggestion that runs counter to these current attempts.In the words of the old folk wisdom, Keep it
simple, Stupid.Always keep the primary
goal in mind.What is the primary goal
of these laws?It is to remove legal
bars to the possession and distribution of marijuana.If that is the goal, just go ahead and do it
(an alternate title to this essay) and forget about the refinements.With that advice, I offer a suggested text
for such a law (disclaimer: I am part of a committee drafting a proposed
medical marijuana statute for Texas.It
is over thirty pages long, but I support it anyway.)The following is my proposed state marijuana
statute:

A
Bill Removing Penalties for Possession
or Transfer of Marijuana

All
current statutes or regulations imposing criminal penalties on the possession
by or transfer to any person over the age of eighteen of marijuana in any form
is hereby repealed.

Thirty
words is all it takes to do the whole thing.No separate medical marijuana statute is needed since patients could purchase
just like anyone else, and sellers could specialize in medical applications if
they desired.

Other
statutes would remain in place covering sales to minors and driving under the
influence.Local government would still
have zoning authority to protect schools and residential areas, just as they do
for other commercial activities.Even
taxes will begin to take care of themselves.In most jurisdictions, general sales taxes would immediately apply to
marijuana, and other taxes could then be created in response to whatever market
develops.

Licenses,
quantity limits, and other measurers to limit criminal activities and
organizations are also unnecessary.Remember, Alcohol Prohibition created Al Capone; it did not put him out
of business.When Repeal allowed legal
brewers to compete, Budweiser’s better business methods and lower costs drove
the mobs from the alcohol market.Legal
marijuana growers would have the same effect on the Cartels and street
gangs.After all, when the illicit
glamour is removed, marijuana is just another agricultural commodity.It costs no more to grow, process, and sell
than does coffee, tea, or broccoli.When
did any of those commodities cost as much as a dollar an ounce?Do tomato growers have to booby-trap their
greenhouses or hire armed guards?Do
farmers’ markets suffer armed heists?When was the last time a truckload of potatoes was hijacked?Even today, practically the only armed
intruders that Emerald Triangle growers have to fear are those sporting DEA
badges.

The
only useful feature of the “safeguards” put into proposed marijuana statutes is
to counter the fears of those alarmed by a half-century of Drug War propaganda
or who draw unwarranted parallels between reasonably safe marijuana and unreasonably
dangerous alcohol.Those fears can be
better met with good educational efforts.

On
the other hand, the cost of these unnecessary precautions is excessive.They create dissention among marijuana
proponents.Several well-intentioned
campaigns have already been waylaid by squabbles between pro-reform groups
unable to agree on how those reform efforts should be limited.

Will
marijuana legalization create problems?Of course it will: simply walking out of ones front door each morning
will bring unanticipated problems that day, but handling problems is what
humans, singly or in societies, do best.Likewise, limitations on legal marijuana will bring their own problems
not anticipated when they were drafted.The smarter course is to be prepared to answer a few problems when they
arise and not to multiply the number and severity of problems by being too
cautious.

So
get out the best tool available to face the legislature.Use that eraser to make sure you Keep it
Simple.